In the name Stoke Poges,stoke means "stockaded (place)" that is staked with more than just boundary-marking stakes. In theDomesday Book of 1086, the village was recorded asStoche.William Fitz-Ansculf, who held themanor in 1086 (in the grounds of which theNormanparish church was built), later became known as William Stoches or William of Stoke. Two hundred years later Amicia of Stoke, heiress to the manor, married Robert Pogeys, Knight of the Shire, and the village eventually became known as Stoke Poges. Robert Poges was the son ofSavoyard Imbert Pugeys, valet toKing Henry III and later steward of the royal household. Poges and Pocheys being an English attempt at Pugeys which ironically meant "worthless thing".[2] The spelling appearing as "Stoke Pocheys", if applicable to this village, may suggest the pronunciation of the second part had a slightly more open "o" sound than the word "Stoke".[3]
A few decades later, the married lady of the manor,Frances Coke, Viscountess Purbeck, the daughter of Sir Edward Coke, had a love affair withRobert Howard, a member of parliament. The affair's discovery was received as a scandal upon the three people involved, and in 1635 Lady Frances was imprisoned for adultery. She later escaped from prison to France, and eventually returned and lived at Stoke Poges Manor for a time. She died atOxford in 1645 at the court ofKing Charles I.[6]
Later the manor came into the possession ofThomas Penn, a son ofWilliam Penn who foundedPennsylvania and was its first proprietor. Thomas Penn held three-fourths of the proprietorship. The manor property remained in his family for at least two generations, as his sonJohn Penn "of Stoke" also lived there.Thomas Gray's 1750 poem "A Long Story" describes the house and its occupants.[9] SirEdwin Henry Landseer was a frequent visitor to the house and rented it as a studio for some time. His most famous painting,The Monarch of the Glen (1851), is said to have been created at Stoke Poges, with the deer in the park used as models.[10]
In 2012 the property was sold, by South Bucks District Council, for a sum of £300,000. It was bought by aproperty developer and was subsequently advertised for sale at £13.5 million.[11]
A Sikh faith secondary school called Pioneer Secondary Academy opened in 2022.[15][16][17] On the site had been Khalsa Secondary Academy which had been rated 'Inadequate ' byOfsted in 2019 and subsequently closed.[18][19][20]
Halidon House School was founded 1865, based in Slough and then in 1948 moved to Framewood Manor, Framewood Road. It was a girls school which closed in 1983.[24][25][26]
Gray is buried in a tomb with his mother and aunt in the churchyard.[37]John Penn commissionedJames Wyatt to design a monument which is a Grade II*listed building. It bears lines from the Elegy.[38] The monument stands adjacent to St Giles' church and owned by theNational Trust.[39]
Alychgate which is now located in the middle of the churchyard was designed byJohn Oldrid Scott and completed in 1887.[40] In 2022 it became a national heritage asset being Listed Grade II.[41]
A gothic style rectory having a battlemented parapet was built byJames Wyatt, 1802–1804 forJohn Penn ofStoke Park. It is now a private residence called Elegy House.[42]
There are two public recreation grounds: Bells Hill and Plough Lane.[43] In the late 20th century, large private sports facilities operated for the main benefit of Glaxo Laboratories staff at Sefton Park[44][45] and forImperial Chemical Industries (ICI) Paints Division[46] at Duffield House, Stoke Green.[47]
Badminton: Stoke Poges Badminton Club has for many decades run in the Village Centre.[48][49]
Bowls: Stoke Poges Bowls Club was founded in 1978 and closed in 2020. The bowling green was situated in the grounds of the Polish Association in Church Lane. The bowling green had opened in 1949 by St. Helens Cable and Wire Company.[50]
Cricket: Stoke Green Cricket Club in Stoke Green has been playing there since 1879 with support of the then landowner, Howard-Vyse of Stoke Place.[51] Stoke Poges Golf Club atStoke Park used to run a cricket club in the early 20th century, playing home matches in Farnham Royal.[52]
Darts: In 2023 darts teams from the Village Centre and the Rose and Crown public house in Stoke Poges, compete in the Chalfont and District Darts League.[53][54]
Football: Stoke Poges Football Club plays on the Bells Hill recreation ground.[55][56]
Golf: Stoke Park golf course was designed byHarry Colt forNicholas Lane Jackson who founded it in 1908 as part of England's first golf and country club. It was known as Stoke Poges Golf Club.[57][58] The South Buckinghamshire Golf Academy consisted of a 9 holes golf course and a golf driving range. It was opened in 1994 and owned byBuckinghamshire County Council. It closed down after the granting of a planning application in 2018 to turn it into a public Country Park.[57][59] The South Buckinghamshire Golf Course, formerly known as Farnham Park Golf Course, is an 18-hole pay and play course, set in 130 acres of mature wooded parkland owned by Buckinghamshire Council.[60][57] In 2023 there were two golf clubs using the course: South Buckinghamshire Golf Club[61] and Farnham Park Golf Club. The latter was established at the course in 1977.[62] Wexham Park Golf Centre in Wexham Street, straddles Stoke Poges and Wexham Parishes. It has a variety of golf facilities with a nine hole course being located in Stoke Poges Parish.[63][57]
Padel: In 2023Buckinghamshire Council submitted plans to build two padel tennis courts at the South Buckinghamshire Golf Course.[64]
Table Tennis: Stoke Poges Table Tennis Club was founded in 1950. Play used to take place in the pavilion at Sefton Park. In the 21st century it plays at St Andrew's Church Centre in Rogers Lane.[65]
Tennis: Stoke Poges Lawn Tennis Club operates on Bells Hill recreation ground and commenced there in 1949.[66][67]
In 1931Aldous Huxley wrote his bookBrave New World which mentions Stoke Poges in it. He frequently visited Stoke Poges golf course.[68]
In 1957, British Pathé filmed ‘The Vital Vaccine’ at Sefton Park where Glaxo Laboratories created and manufactured the 'Polyvirin', Britain's Polio vaccine. The Chairman of Glaxo’, SirHarry Jephcott is filmed. It is announced at the start of the film, that it is the former home of the music hall star,Vesta Tilley[69]
In 1964 the golf course at Stoke Park was the setting of a golf match in theJames Bond filmGoldfinger, played between the principal characters.[71] The map on the dial in Bond's car that tracks Goldfinger's shows Stoke Poges.
In 2007, Part of the 2007 seriesJekyll was filmed on the boardwalk and surrounding area.
In 2010, the BBC drama series Vexed (Series 1, Ep.2, TX 22 Aug 2010 – with Toby Stephens and Lucy Punch) was largely filmed in the grounds and inside Stoke Court – which had earlier been Bayer Group UK's conference centre.
Wilberforce Bryant (1837–1906), English businessman, owner ofBryant & May match manufacturer andQuaker, resident atStoke Park (1887-1906).[95]: 70–77 [96]
Edward Coke (1552–1634), Lord Chief Justice of England and politician, resident at the Manor House (1598-1634).[95]: 25–28
Abraham Darby IV (1804–1878), English ironmaster, resident at Stoke Court, Rogers Lane (1851–1872).[97]
Walter de Frece (1870-1935), British theatre impresario and politician, resident at Sefton Park with his wife,Vesta Tilley in the 1920s.[98]
John Thomas Duckworth (1748–1817),Admiral in theRoyal Navy and baronet spent his childhood at the Vicarage, Park Road, where his father lived, being the Vicar of Stoke Poges (1754–1748).[100][101]
Ruth Durlacher (1876-1946), Irish tennis player and golfer, resident at the White House and Pinegrove, Stoke Green, in early 20th century.[102][103]
Walter Evelyn Gilliat (1869-1963), England footballer and Minister in the Church of England, resident at Duffield House where his father, Algernon, lived, Stoke Green[104][105]
Jacques Laffite (born 1943) the FrenchFormula One racing driver who won six Grands Prix forLigier during the late 1970s and early 1980s, lived in Stoke Poges during some of his racing career.[citation needed]
Henry Martin (Marten) (c.1562–1641), King's Advocate for James I and Judge of Admiralty Court is reported to have been born at Stoke Poges.[119]
Comer Group, is a real estate company which c.2010 became the owner of Stoke Court for part of its residential portfolio.[137][138]
Hitachi Data Systems, is a subsidiary ofHitachi. It provides technology and services relating to digital data. UK Headquarters at Sefton Park, Bells Hill, Stoke Poges.[139]
International Group operates a group of companies in the leisure, sales, marketing, management, healthcare services and property development and ownership. Registered atStoke Park until 2021, when the lease was sold to Reliance Industries[140][141]
Servier Laboratories Ltd, is part of a French centric international pharmaceutical group. UK Headquarters at Sefton Park, Bells Hill, Stoke Poges.[143]
Urenco Ltd, a nuclear fuel company, operating internationally running uranium enrichment plants. Headquarters at Sefton Park, Bells Hill, Stoke Poges.[144]
Fulmer Research Institute, a pioneer contract research and development organisation. Its Headquarters was in Hollybush Hill, Stoke Poges from 1946 to 1990.[145]
Glaxo Laboratories Ltd, now part ofGSK, a fermentation and vaccine research laboratory at Sefton Park, Bells Hill, Stoke Poges from 1948 to 1982: (NB: see 'In Media' section above - 1957, British Pathé filmed ‘The Vital Vaccine’ at Sefton Park)[146]
Miles Laboratories, a USA pharmaceutical and life sciences company. UK headquarters in Stoke Court, Rogers Lane, Stoke Poges from 1959 to 1978 whenBayer acquired it.[147][148]
At the 2001 UK census, the Stoke Pogeselectoral ward had a population of 4,839. The ethnicity was 93.3% white, 1.3% mixed race, 4.8% Asian, 0.3% black and 0.3% other. The place of birth of residents was 88.1% United Kingdom, 1.6% Republic of Ireland, 2.5% other Western European countries, and 7.8% elsewhere. Religion was recorded as 76.5% Christian, 0.2% Buddhist, 0.7% Hindu, 2.7% Sikh, 0.5% Jewish, and 1.1% Muslim. 10.6% were recorded as having no religion, 0.2% had an alternative religion and 7.6% did not state their religion.[149]
The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 40.8% in full-time employment, 11.6% in part-time employment, 12.6% self-employed, 1.8% unemployed, 1.5% students with jobs, 3.1% students without jobs, 16.8% retired, 6.7% looking after home or family, 2.5% permanently sick or disabled and 2.5% economically inactive for other reasons. The industry of employment of residents was 15.4% retail, 13.4% manufacturing, 6.9% construction, 21.1% real estate, 9.2% health and social work, 7.3% education, 8.8% transport and communications, 3.5% public administration, 3.4% hotels and restaurants, 2.8% finance, 0.8% agriculture and 7.4% other. Compared with national figures, the ward had a relatively high proportion of workers in real estate, transport and communications. According toOffice for National Statistics estimates, during the period of April 2001 to March 2002 the average gross weekly income of households was £870, compared with an average of £660 inSouth East England. Of the ward's residents aged 16–74, 28.4% had a higher education qualification or the equivalent, compared with 19.9% nationwide.[149]
In 2011,The Daily Telegraph deemed Stoke Poges as Britain's eighth richest village and the third richest village in Buckinghamshire.[150]
2011 Published Statistics: Population, home ownership and extracts from Physical Environment, surveyed in 2005[1]
^J. Lee Thompson (Director), Gregory Peck (Actor) (1969)."The Chairman" (also known as "The Most Dangerous Man in the World") (Film). Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, England: Twentieth Century Fox.
^Anglesey, The Marquess of (1994).A History of the British Cavalry: Volume 5: 1914–1919 Egypt, Palestine and Syria. Pen & Sword Books Ltd.ISBN9780850523959.
^1851 England Census HO107/1718; Folio: 579; Page: 17
^Jackson, Nick Lane (1932).Sporting Days and Sporting Ways. London, UK: Hurst and Blacket.OCLC1073277963.
^Neale, John Preston (1824).Views of the most interesting Collegiate and Parochial Churches in Great Britain – St Giles' Church, Stoke Poges – The Rev Arthur Bold. Volume 1. London: John le Keux.OCLC939440882.
^Bryant Bevan, The Rev. D.H. (1948). "The Country Churchyard Stoke Poges Church". R.G. Baker & Co. Ltd, Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire: 17.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)
